Using drum triggers
2005-06-07 by Greg Amann
I have been thinking aboot using my V-Drums to trigger my imminent modular and skipping the MIDI step entirely. Using just one pad to trigger sounds in a studio looks relatively easy. But triggering multiple patches with multiple pads in a performance context is a little trickier, isn't it? I am not referring to the bank account draining need for lots of modules: the only happy modular is a big modular. All "drum brains" I have used have three settings that are settable via menus: 1.- sensitivity 2.- noise rejection 3.- interference rejection where sensitivity is self-explanatory, noise rejection is the ability of the system to tell a hit on a pad from a mis-hit on the associated hardware or a bass player thumping away etc., and interference rejection is the ability for the system to tell a hit on Pad A from a hit on Pad B. I would need to design interface electronics to cover this territory to have a successful performance system wouldn't I? If I wanted to design a 1U module to interface each pad, it would need some kind of sneaksy rear cable connectors so that the pad interface modules could talk to each other in order to get the interference rejection looked after too. Has this ever been done? Any opinions? Any thoughts? Am I totally off my nut? I was in one of my favourite music stores recently and I told this young dude that I was building a modular synth. He just gave me this blank look so I went into poop-disturbing mode and told him that I was doing in hardware for $3K what he could do in software for $300. Now, WE all know what this modular synth thing is all aboot: but is this MIDI-less electronic drum idea a bridge too far? I thank you in advance, BFG